Why are humans more advanced than other animals?

I've been struggling with this question for some time now. A member of my family and I recently got into a debate about what is natural and what is unnatural. They are Christian so their opinion was "naturally" a warped one, but it got me thinking nonetheless.

I think that what separates us from other animals is fairly straightforward from a cognitive and technological perspective, but no one, not even the omniscient Google, has been able to give me an answer as to WHY this is the case.

Why are humans more technologically and cognitively advanced than other animals? Why are we the dominant species on this planet? Are we more evolved than other animals? If so, why have we seemed to evolve further (and faster?) than others?

On a less scientific note, do you envision a world where humans de-evolve or stagnate in their evolution allowing a new dominant species to take over?

I'm sure humans also slept a lot until our societies became so populated that power wielding began. Before human 'monarchies' required human labour to build magnificent pyramids, I'm sure humans spent plenty of time sleeping. But somewhere along the way someone got greedy and thought, "I can build a larger house for myself by enslaving you". Nomadic populations didn't have this kind of behaviour, they lived according to the rhythms of nature. But sedentary groups, those living in lands that are plentiful on a year long basis (tropics) had this option of capitalising (proto-capitalism) on not only nature's resources but also on the human resource. Culturally speaking, THAT was the largest single evolutionary event of the Homo sapiens culture. IMO, at that point, we gave up on our animal identities and went from being Homo sapiens sapiens, to being Homo sapiens familiaris, or humans.

There is no such thing as more evolved. Better adapted or more specialised. Humans are specialised for using tools and reasoning, probably because our ancestors were the first to begin occupying the toolmaking and reasoning ecological niche. This is just the way it happened, and asking why is pointless, just as asking why are birds more advanced in flying or spiders more advanced in making webs. Any species trying to occupy a niche has to contend with those already occupying it, and there really is no chance for another tool using species untill we blow ourselves to hell.

That's what I've been reading a lot of and I've felt generally inclined to agree with it, but there are still some things which bug me. Maybe I just can't get over my anthropocentric worldview, but humans seem considerably more cognitively developed than other animals with regards to rationalising, self-control, self-awareness, introspection etc. I don't think it's futile to ask why this is the case. I don't think that asking why something is the way it is a pointless exercise at all.

That is the case because those are the qualities humans need to survive long enough to produce offspring, therefore they were favored in our evolution. And they were favored because they allowed our ancestors to occupy a new niche. It was basically easier to become smarter than to become stronger, faster or what have you, because there wasn't anyone smarter, but there where a lot of creatures that were better than us in any other way.

I believe we are not that disciplined, just a small number of people shape this world in to existence like architects, engineers and so on. Most of us hate to get up in the morning and wish we are still in trees throwing faeces at each other. I say this because if you read, just for a second, tabloid newspapers you will get the feeling that this people are throwing faeces at each other and that we have not evolved farther from some very primitive species that care only about their looks and popularity and attack otherones status in this regard.

If we were as cognitively magnificent as you 'feel' we are, do you really think we'd have any pollution on the planet? Do you think there would be so much violence?

IMO those are symptoms that our cognitive abilities are much lesser than the value we attribute to them. We are a narcissistic species, we look at our buildings and destruction of nature and exclaim: "what great feats we accomplish!" ... "how great we are!" All the planet in servitude to humanity.

I'm confused by your post. Usually, from what I observe in other forums, someone who starts with the word troll is accusing the previous poster of being a troll. I'm definitely feeling like that's your intent? If that's the case, I think it's to sink pretty low on your part.